ON THE U.S. OPEN: Woods still wants to win, but McDowell has edge

Graeme McDowell, of Northern Ireland, hits out of a bunker on the 17th hole during practice for the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club, Wednesday, June 12, 2013, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

HAVERFORD — It’s been seven years since word first leaked out that the U.S. Open would return to Merion Golf Club’s East Course for the first time in 32 years.

Today, the best players in the world begin chasing one of golf’s biggest prizes on a layout that has produced drama and great performances by some of the greatest names in the history of the game. Other than that, not a big deal on the Main Line.

Weather threatens to be the big story on Day 1 of the 2013 U.S. Open. But when the final story on this U.S. Open is written, it will be the golf that everybody will remember.

The spotlight, as it has been since he blasted onto the scene with that epic 12-shot victory at the 1997 Masters, is shining the brightest on Tiger Woods. It took a while for him to rebuild his golf game and his image after injury and marital woes that played out very publicly for a guy who values his privacy above almost all else.

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But Woods arrives at Merion as the No. 1 player in the world. He tees off at 1:14 p.m. in a marquee trio of 1-2-3 that will include world No. 2 Rory McIlroy and world No. 3 Adam Scott. No word yet on whether the gallery for that group will include the girlfriends of Woods and McIlory, Lindsey Vonn and Caroline Wozniacki, respectively. Vonn is just the best female skier in the world, maybe ever, and Wozniacki is the former No. 1 player in the world on the tennis court. Good-looking? Yeah, that too.

Woods was asked Tuesday what motivates him after all these years, after 14 major championships, after 78 PGA Tour victories. It’s simple. He likes winning.

“It’s still about winning the event,” Woods said matter-of-factly. “That’s why I played as a junior, all the way through to now is just to try to kick everyone’s butt. That to me is the rush. That’s the fun. That’s the thrill.”

But nobody is going to concede the title to Woods just yet. Nor should they. He has not won a major in five years. He appeared ready to contend heading into the weekend of a couple of majors last year only to fade.

Tuesday, he was already talking about getting mudballs in the fairways because of the soft conditions and he was complaining that the greens were slow by U.S. Open standards.

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, who won the Open three years ago at Pebble Beach, talked about the wet conditions that are going to prevail at Merion. But to him, they are just hurdles toward the ultimate goal, a second U.S. Open title.

“The course has a lot of drying out to do,” McDowell said before heading out for a practice round Tuesday. “It’s still a tough driving golf course. And driving and wedge play are going to be the two keys this week. I think wedge play coming into these soft and fast greens that are pitched back towards the players, probably 15, 16 times, controlling the spin, trying to get the back pins, that will be important.”

Regardless, McDowell plans to play it as he finds it.

“Someone is going to pick up the trophy, hopefully Sunday night,” McDowell said. “If it’s Monday night, so be it. Someone is going to pick it up this week. You’ve got to have the attitude right. Be one of the contenders.”

It is, however, golf after all. The winner will likely come from a pretty short list of players who have proven themselves in tough conditions. But 42 years ago, Jim Simons, a 21-year-old amateur from western Pennsylvania, had the lead in the 1971 U.S. Open here.

Matt Kuchar, coming off a victory in the Memorial Tournament, is considered among the best players not to have won a major. To him golf’s unpredictability is a big part of its appeal.

“I think everybody that is teeing it up here has their eye on the prize,” said Kuchar, who trails only Woods and his four wins on the 2013 PGA Tour money list. “I think that’s a great thing about the game of golf is there’s no clear-cut favorite. Anybody in the field’s got a legitimate chance here.”

That being said, I like McDowell. There’s something about a guy from Northern Ireland teeing it up and winning a U.S. Open in Delaware County. Plus, he’s Irish, he knows bad weather.